Mercedes plans 10 new electric vehicles by 2025

German brand outlines electric car strategy

Mercedes-Benz plans to introduce 10 new electric vehicles as part of its EQ sub-brand revealed at last week's Paris motor show Photo: Daimler AG - Global Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars

Mercedes-Benz will launch 10 electric vehicles within the next 10 years under its new EQ sub brand, with the expectation they will make up 15 to 25 per cent of the German brand's total sales volume by 2025.

Expected to be dubbed Mercedes-EQ ? in line with Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach performance and luxury offshoots ? the family of vehicles will utilise a largely unique modular electric vehicle architecture, offering similar range and performance to comparative petrol-engined models in the quest to take on Tesla.

Speaking with Drive at the Paris motor show, Mercedes-Benz head of research and development Thomas Weber believes the "tipping point" will come for electric vehicles, citing increased battery density and greater economies of scale as major drivers fuelling its strategy, despite fewer than 1.0 per cent of new vehicle buyers currently choosing electric.

"During one year on average there is 14 per cent increase in energy density of battery, that means in five years we saw a double energy density than five years before and we believe we are not at an end," he explains, adding that the company will invest ?1 billion into its wholly owned battery plant in Germany in the coming years.

"That is the biggest change in the overall scenario for why we see the tipping point coming. The energy density is much better, the economies of scale and all the others of overall investment makes us confident."

Weber says the 14kWh battery pack powering the Smart electric drive that launched globally in 2010 was ?10,000 ? or ?715 per kiloWatt hour all to achieve a driving range between recharges of just 115km.

"But now we see on the horizon ?100 per kiloWatt hour and if that is the case in the ideal combination package ? we will see a situation where the high-tech EV powertrain place in the same magnitude as a comparable internal combustion energy," he continues.

The production version of the Generation EQ Concept shown at the Paris motor show last week will be the fourth, medium SUV model from Mercedes-EQ, Weber confirms, with three smaller and three larger vehicles to come, in addition to a trio of Smarts. The vehicle requires a 70kWh battery pack to deliver 500km range ? meaning a cost of ?7000 per pack plus the electric motor, based on Weber's future figure.

"We believe these forecasts, our own interpretation of what the future looks like and 15 to 25 percentage points [of total sales] is linked to the expectation that we will see a cost development and energy density development in this direction which gives us a chance to announce that such a vehicle, size wise comparable to [Mercedes-Benz] GLC can be offered in the same price range than a fully loaded GLC with conventional drivetrain," he tells.

Although he confesses that the exact moment EVs turn popular is still unknown, Weber says reduced pricetags and greater range between powerpoint recharging will increasingly draw buyers in.

"At the moment we can offer vehicles with a range of 500km ? and some others have 500km, or 600km, or 400km so it's clear how huge the battery packs are, but we have to find the optimum combination of battery size," he says.

A Mercedes-Benz GLC tops out at around $80K in our market and Weber seizes the chance to compare such pricing to the darling of electric vehicles, the Tesla Model X that arrives locally this year ? although the first production EQ model is at least two years away.

"If you look at the moment what others are talking about from such a vehicle, maybe a famous American company, it's maybe US $150,000 for such a vehicle and immediately you are jumping in a completely different price range," he says.

Has the seeming success of the Tesla brand pushed Mercedes-Benz's strategy along, though?

"The whole industry of course," replies Weber, before referring to Daimler's former collaboration with the Californian-based company and taking a swipe at its lack of profitability.

"And that was the reason before that the rest of the world knows who is Tesla, well, we invested in them. It was therefore as you know we are the only one earning money from the electro-mobility, selling their shares."

Weber concedes that companies such as Tesla have affected the way the new Mercedes-EQ sub-brand was conceived, however, with employees working independently of the Daimler brand yet to access its engineering.

"By the technology, the expectation, how they [Tesla] do projects and that maybe is the biggest change we are talking about, a technology mindset behaviour organisational setup, this Silicon Valley mentality," he explains.

"That's what will change our industry, and that's also part of our new legal entity CASE where we address these future oriented topics with a separate team linked to, for example, that they have all the access to all the knowledge we have in the last 130 years, but flexible and independent enough to do everything possible to focus 100 per cent to these topics."

The acronym case stands for Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrification, and includes five distinct departments not merely based on electric vehicle engineering, fuelling evidence of the head of group research's claim that Mercedes-EQ is more than just an EV brand.

Weber doesn't, however, agree with the suggestion that the brand could have launched earlier with electric vehicles to rival Tesla.

"Yeah but sometimes you could also be a little bit too early," he says.

"For Smart now the concept is perfect, when we launched the [original EV] Smart maybe it was a little bit too early.

"We believe now we are at the point to change something completely, a tipping point will come. Right in time is the secret of success."

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